Days 9, 10, 11, &12

Well, to catch up on the past few days, here a few miscellaneous photos!

I just had to take this picture....it was so beautiful that day! Mom had just planted these flowers and we had another storm moving in. The clouds, the sun, the mountains, and the flowers were a beautiful combination!! (By the way, I am hearing thunder right now....perhaps we'll get more rain today?) :)

Scotch and Jasper look on.

Here I am doing school in my room! Sorry for the slitty eyes (I'm famous for closing my eyes during photos - can't help it!!).

Well, this has turned out to be a short post - but I'm short on pictures as our camera is failing to work properly so I have a limited supply right now! :)

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Day 8

Most of this morning was spent beginning Isaac's quilt! I had wanted to make him one and had most of the fabric to do it with; and now I am finally getting around to it. I am about half done with it!

Here's a closeup of the Noah's ark scene in the middle!

And here is our delicous meal that Mom made for us today: Ground Beef Gyros!

Well, this is a pretty short post today because I don't have many pictures; and I'll have to sign off for now as my banana bread is in the oven and ready to be checked on!

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Day 7

Wow - we're on day 7 already! I can't believe they've been gone a week! It seems like they've been gone much longer; yet it also seems like they just left. :) We miss you guys!!:)

One thing we've been having fun with lately is watching Season 1 of Little House on The Prairie! Our neighbors loaned us the first two seasons, so it's been fun to see. It's such a good wholesome movie!

And now, for pictures of of our "Little House on The Prairie"..... (I mean Desert)....

Here is our garden this year - rows and rows of corn growing strong! (Yes, notice the weeds in there too!!)

Fresh onions......

....corn-on-the-cob in the making.....

....and two very cute pups!

A classic Arizona sunset. It's starting to look like summer around here! Things are really greening up! (Yes, look at the green on the ground!! It's weeds.)

"See ya later!"

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Day 6

Well, guess what we did today?

Yep, you guessed it - we killed the above snake. Now, normally Jonathan would have been out there shooting it, but since he's gone right now, we girls had to take care of it. Jonathan gave us some gun lessons before they left on their trip (he was a great teacher, by the way!) so we were well prepared to shoot!

This snake was in the dog corral, and all the dogs were barking at it. Thankfully, due to their snake training from last summer, the dogs knew not to get very close!

Here's Mom getting ready to haul the dead snake out to the fields. I shot it, and Mom disposed of it. :) A very gruesome job, to say the least!

So that was our excitement for the day - and my first snake shooting!

Thank you Jonathan, for the great shooting lessons - I put them to good use today!!!!! :)

Now, I know I've hardly posted anything but desserts on this blog so far.....but I just have to share this brownie recipe with everyone! :) Unfortunately, no pictures with this one - but I have to say it is the best brownie recipe I have ever come across. So enjoy!

Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies

1 package (4 ounces) German sweet chocolate

3 T. butter

2 eggs

3/4 C. sugar

1/2 C. flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

Filling:

2 T. butter, softened

1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1/4 C. sugar

1 egg

1 T. flour

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

In a saucepan, melt chocolate and butter over low heat; stir until smooth. Remove from the heat; set aside. In a small bowl, beat eggs. Gradually add sugar; beating until thick and pale yellow. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to egg mixture and mix well. Stir in extracts and reserved melted chocolate. Pour half of batter into a greased 8 inch square baking dish. Set aside.

For filling, in a mixing bowl, beat butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, flour, and vanilla; mix well. Pour over batter in pan. Spoon remaining chocolate batter over filling. With a knife, cut through batter to create a marbled effect.

Bake at 325* foro 35 - 40 minutes. Cool and cut into bars. Store in refrigerator.

And now, here are some pictures of Daisy and Pearl, our goats!

This sweet looking little girl thinks it's her goal in life to climb me! Daisy jumps all over everyone and twirls and flips in the air. She's quite the little acrobat!

"Really? You don't say!"

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Day 5

Here's what our weather looked like today!! We have been having drizzles all day - it's been a dreary kind of day, but very cozy nonetheless. :)

The mountains are totally covered with clouds - you can barely see them in the picture!


And now, for you dog-lovers out there, here is a picture of my dog, Willcox Savage Sam Krause (ahem, we actually call him Willie for short..). He is almost 3 years old - and is looking particularly cute in this photo!

"When a dog wags her tail and barks at the same time, how do you know which end to believe?" - Anonymous

"If your dog doesn't like someone you probably shouldn't either." - Unknown

"I named my dog 'Stay'... so I can say 'Come here, Stay. Come here, Stay.'" - Steven Wright

If you hadn't noticed, we like dogs - alot. (We have three of them, anyway!) They're the best nightime guards and daytime sleepers - and make the most loyal pet you'll ever have.

Have a great day, everyone!!! Come back soon!

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Days 3 & 4

Here's a great view of the storm moving in. Mmmmm...I just love thunderstorms!

It's moving closer.

(The three little specks by the fence are our dogs, lying in age order, by the way. :) )


Hooray! Rain at last!


Well, that's the update for yesterday.

And now, even though I don't have a picture of it, I'd like to post the most wonderful banana bread recipe. I received it a little while ago from some good friends of ours. It is probably the best banana bread I've ever had!!!


Amazing Banana Bread


3/4 C. sugar

1/2 C. butter

1 C. mashed bananas (about 2 large ones)

1/2 C. sour cream

2 eggs

2 C. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 C. chocolate chips

1/2 C. nuts


Combine sugar and softened butter until fluffy. Add sour cream and eggs. In a seperate bowl, combine flour, salt, and soda; add to wet mixture. Stir in bananas. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Pour into two greased loaf pans and bake at 350* for 45 minutes, or until done.


Note: you can use peanut butter chips in place of the chocolate chips.


On another subject, here are two really good books I've been reading lately.

I've only started this one, but so far it's very good!


I'd heard alot about this one, and I finally received it for my 16th! It's a very helpful and challenging book. The author, Sarah Mally, also wrote another book with her siblings called "Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends." It's also another good one!!

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Day 2

And now, for our Day 2 update......(drum roll, please....)

What can you make with goat's milk?

Well, thismorning, Mom and I both enjoyed mugs of delicious hot chocolate - made out of goat's milk! It was very, very good.

Just heat up the milk......

..add a spoonful or two of the best stuff in the world (chocolate!)...

...add many big spoonfuls of what makes the best stuff in the world good (sugar, of course)...

...and enjoy!

What else can you make out of goats milk?

Pudding......mmmmm...

Yes, we splurged and bought instant chocolate pudding mix! It was scrumptious!

Here I am enjoying a bowl of it.

(Okay, maybe not the whole bowl - I just had to have a quick spoonful. :):)

So normally we don't eat this unhealthy, but you know how splurges are.

One of the things I did today was clean my room....it had gotten pretty messy over the past week, so I finally buckled down and cleaned it. There's nothing in the world like a clean room!

By the way, does anyone have any tips on organizing, cleaning, etc.? I've always liked the idea of "spring cleaning" - although Courtney and I usually call it a "house overhaul". :) If our room is messy and we're bored, we'll often suggest, "Do you want to overhaul our room?" This usually includes putting in a Adventures In Odyssey, Andy Griffith Show, or some nice music, and then hauling lots of things out of our closet and throwing lots of stuff away! I enjoy doing it every once in awhile, because clutter, dust, and dirty carpet is something I can't stand for long. When we were little, our Grandma used to encourage us to keep our rooms clean by telling us the story of the "Neat Nicks and the Clutter Bums." :)

This is the lovely little rosebush our friends the Doughtys gave me for my 16th birthday! It is really doing well. I'm enjoying keeping it in the house - it's much better than fake flowers!



Um, maybe this wasn't such a great idea.

Mom is working on Courtney's graduation announcements! They're really turning out nice.

And that's the update for today! Come back soon!! :)

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Day 1

Hi, everyone!

Here I am posing by Mom's beautiful rosebush. We got it for her last year for Mother's Day, and it is really doing well this year! Lovely pink roses are so gorgeous!!!

So, to give you an account of our day, we had a delicious meal of....

...macaroni and cheese......

...and lemon green beans. Yes, I know the picture makes the beans look like a pile of slop, but they were really very good!!!! :)

Here is Mom watching an episode of the Andy Griffith show. I would have posted a clip from You-Tube, but I'm have a hard time remembering how. :):) I'll get help from Courtney, though!!

So, moving on.

Mom feeds the animals.

Here's Scotch, looking like he needs a nap!

And here's Mesa the Magnificant.

Mom poses with the hay!

We're getting lots of cloud buildup today. I hope monsoons are well on their way!

(Wow, that rhymed! As Dad would say, "I'm a poet and I didn't even know it!) :) Just some humor.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great evening!

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